On May 24 and 25, in the Ukraine’s Capitol, Kiev there was a 28th convention of All-Ukrainian Union of ECB. This convention was dedicated to the theme of “You Know the Times” and is based on Romans 13:11-14.
The convention was attended by 646 delegates and quests, including the delegates from all regional associations, missions’ representatives, and seminaries of the union. There was a significant number of representatives from various countries including Israel, Germany, the U.S., Moldova, Georgia, Russia, Belarus, Czech, Estonia, and Kazakhstan.
The chairman of the Western-Ukrainian Association of ECB in the U.S., Pavel Demyanik preached on “The Life During the Revival”. Mego Remmel who is the vice-president of the European Baptist Federation preached the second sermon. He preached on “Life in Expectation of the Day of the Lord”. I prepared a theme that was given to me, “Life of Sanctification”. In conclusion, the sermon on “Living in the Power of the Holy Spirit”, was preached by the re-elected chairman of the Union of the ECB of Ukraine, Valeriy Stepanovich Antonyuk.
The choir and orchestra from the Buzivky village was a special addition to the program. Their advanced level of performance of spiritual masterpieces was a pleasant surprise to all of the guests of the convention. Many of the listeners were asking “Is it really possible that one Ukrainian village can have so many gifted young people who have such extraordinary talents?” In response, they received a resonating “yes”. If God chose to bless a church in Buzivky village in such a way, He simply did so.
The convention had a business portion to it during which the chairman of the union, Valeriy Antonyuk made his report, and there was an election of leadership of the union for the next five years. The business portion of the convention passed by very quickly in the spirit of unity. There were open votes in all of the issues since all of the issues were previously decided upon on the regional level of the associations. This allowed for the feeling of unity of the brethren.
The leadership of the union was selected to be: Chairman - Valeriy Antonyuk, executive chairman – Vladimir Condor; vice-chairman – Igor Bandura, Roman Vecherkivskiy, Sergey Moroz, Vasiliy Furta; helpers: Mykola Romanyuk, Vladimir Omelchuk, Sergey Sizonenko, Vladimir Shemchishin.
The committee of the union consisted of 40 elders – leadership of the union (mentioned previously), heads of associations of the Ukrainian diaspora in the U.S., head of the spiritually-consultation committee, head of the youth of Ukraine, and all of the 25 regional head pastors.
In conclusion of the business portion of the convention, there was a special time for everyone in the partaking of the Communion. Each participant of the convention could feel the unity and love which we have because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
The following day, early in the morning on May 26, I flew to Valencia where the previous arrangement was made of the ordination of our missionary, Alec Shipuk for pastoral ministry. The head pastor of “House of the Gospel Church” in Fresno, Aleksandr Ivanov along with his wife came for this purpose. Joseph Sheremet who oversees the Association’s missionary ministry also participated in the ordination, as well as another pastor of the local Spanish church. With the abundance of the best wishes, instructions, and prayers over the Shipuk family, we did not even notice how quickly the event passed, and after the group picture and lunch we went to our lodging. Alec Shipuk is responsible for the ministry of the local Russian church in Valencia and needs our support and prayers.
The next day on Monday morning, we had an introductory meeting with the local missionary from the SBK, Pastor Jason. I hope that this newfound friendship will lead to mutual ministry and support of the missionary families from the U.S. and who are supported by mutual partnership in Spain.
That is how quickly the four days of my trip have passed. They were full of meetings, fellowship, and ministry in two countries: Ukraine and Spain. While being in Spain, we continued to serve those, who moved from Ukraine in search of “temporary” work in Spain. We are continuing to minister to each other knowing that we are one body of the Lord Jesus Christ who unites us under one purpose of the Great Commission.
Ivan Mileyev
Convention of the All-Ukrainian Union of ECB
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Ordination in Valencia, Spain
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